What grinds your gears?: Common road rage triggers

Simon Waller, Digital Content Editor

Twice as many British drivers are enraged by people who don’t indicate as by speeding drivers, according to a new online survey on UK road rage.

A study of the most common road rage triggers, conducted by Car Finance 2 Go, has found that many more British drivers are enraged by people who don’t indicate than by any other driving faux pas.

1,002 Brits were asked what really grinds their gears – and a massive 34% of participants cited not indicating as their ultimate pet hate – while only 16% consider speeding drivers the worst offenders on the road.

This comes at a critical time for British motorists, following the Independent’s report earlier this year that road deaths were set to rise for a third consecutive quarter.

After a five-year decrease in traffic police budgets, this sudden spike in those killed or seriously injured (KSI) on the road looks like the culmination of this budget cut – and with lazy indicators becoming the primary target of UK road rage, safety appears to be on the British agenda.

Data revealed in this study suggests there might be a connection between where you live and how you drive.

What grinds your gears?: common road rage triggers

According to data found in this survey, city drivers are the main offenders, with 44% of urban dwellers declaring war on non-indicators, compared with 29% in the suburbs and 19% of those living in rural areas.

And there’s more – the data also seems to show that higher earners take indicating particularly seriously.

While only 23% of those earning up to £24,999 a year expressed anger at drivers who don’t indicate, this percentage shoots to 50% for people bringing in between £50k and £74,999 - and a majority of 60% for high earners making over £150k per annum.

Long considered the scourge of drivers across Britain, cyclists came off relatively squeaky clean with a negligible 9% of the votes.

Proving a less popular road rage trigger than non-indicators, speeders, slow drivers and rush hour traffic, this study suggests that bike-lovers might not deserve their unflattering on-road rep.

A total of 13 cyclists were killed on London’s roads in 2014, according to the BBC – and 8 have already died on the capital’s roads so far this year – while forward-thinking new schemes are being implemented in other parts of the world to protect the cycling masses.

Other popular answers from this study included rush hour traffic, with 19% of men declaring this their greatest road rage trigger – versus only 15% of women surveyed.